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Tonight is the opening of Miniprint 14, the annual printmaking show/exchange/fundraiser at the Alvin Gittins Gallery, The University of Utah. This is the fifth year I’ve been invited to participate. After the first year, I decided to re-use and re-configure the same elements. 1:4 marks the third year I’ve used the red, black, and metallic silver color palette.

The first run of 1:4 is a photopolymer plate that I permanently mounted to MDF to make a re-usable, moveable block.Comparing the placement of the first run (metallic silver) to the marked-up digital comp.

SECOND RUN

The second run is a vintage letterpress cut and two 8 pica brass rules, all from the Letterpress Daily collection.The registered proof of the second run.

THIRD RUN

Press run three is an 8 pica wood type circle printed over the top of the metallic silver.Taking advantage of the translucency of printing inks.

FOURTH RUN

My favorite Van Sons Dutch Fireball (Pantone 185) is the fourth press run. The three type high blocks include a 4 pica wood type circle, a 24 point metal type circle and 15 pica wavy brass rule, all locked-up on the Vandercook SP-15.I love how the red pops, bringing the print to life.

FIFTH RUN

The fifth and final lock-up is the most difficult. Registration of the thin brass rules and tiny black circles (three 24 point Spartan Medium periods) is crucially tight. The complexity is compounded by canting one of the brass rules using angled wood type furniture.The numbered edition is 65 prints, plus artist’s proofs. See the full print, along with my miniprints from previous years, on my website. If you can’t make it to the Gittins Gallery for the sale (December 4–6), contact me for purchase information.

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Comments for this entry

Thank you so much for sharing this lovely piece of work. I love your clear explanations too. Makes me want to get back into the letterpress studio and get printing straight away….and I just got back from there!

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Thanks for the comment and the encouragement, Elizabeth. It makes me want to get back to the press, too!

On my first visit to a (any) letterpress site I find this post quite riveting… the Bauhaus-like simplicity of the graphic design, printed-out on a machine that could have been on the Ark (OK, exaggerating, but you know what I mean) is astounding and eye-opening.

In days gone by I have photographed many craftspeople from weavers to glass blowers (including Dale Chiuly at work in London in the ’70s), but never (and to my shame I call myself an artist) realized the visual beauty and craft-skill that goes into “ink on paper for announcements”.

However, ’tis never too late to learn! So thank you for enlightening me!

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